OAKLAND, Calif. -- Before the Detroit Lions could embark on their final offensive drive to take the lead, they needed to score a touchdown to put themselves in that position. Titus Young took care of that with his 3-yard reception in the end zone.

But Matthew Stafford's legs played a big role on a fourth-down conversion just before the scoring play.

Detroit had a nice drive going, from its 29-yard line to Oakland's 16-yard line, when it suddenly seemed like it would stall.

Tight end Brandon Pettigrew dropped a couple of passes in the end zone on first and second downs, then caught an 8-yard pass on third down, leaving the Lions two yards shy of a first down. Trailing by 13 points with 5:36 on the clock, Detroit was obviously going to go for it, but the question was how would they go about it?

Offensive coordinator Scott Linehan had time to think about it after Oakland called a timeout. When the Lions broke from the huddle, though, Stafford had other ideas.

"I liked the play call -- it was a pass play," Stafford said. "It was No. 55 (linebacker Rolando McClain) standing across from me. That was the only guy I had to get past, but that's not easy. I didn't tell anyone I was going to run. I just broke up to the line of scrimmage and figured I had to make a play. I put my foot in the ground, just got north and broke a little tackle there to pick up the first down."

Stafford scrambled for 5 yards on fourth-and-2.

It's not often Stafford purposely runs with the ball, but the way the Raiders defended the play sealed the deal with his decision not to go through with the pass play; the same play call, incidentally, that the Lions used to score a touchdown on the final drive.

"They had three down linemen and a linebacker in the middle of the field," he said. "Everybody else was double covered. I'm sitting there going, 'I'm about as good an option as anyone else, so let's do it.'"

Cornerback Chris Houston saw his first game action since injuring his knee in the Thanksgiving Day game, but left early because he wasn't able to cut effectively. Louis Delmas, who also injured his knee against Green Bay, was inactive against Oakland.

Coach Jim Schwartz said after the game Delmas, a third-year safety, had his knee scoped, but did not say the procedure would end his season.

Chris Harris, who started in place of Delmas, left the Raiders game in the first quarter with concussion symptoms and never returned. John Wendling filled in at safety for him.

Cornerback Don Carey left the game after he took a vicious hit on special teams from Jerome Boyd, who drew a personal foul penalty for the block. Carey did return to the game, however.